by Michael Skinner
Sunday, 6 March
I have a full day of meetings lined up today. The first is with a sociology professor at one of the many private universities (some of dubious quality) that are popping up here. Surprisingly, a member of the Afghan parliament also drops by (unfortunately, I don’t know how to spell either of their names; I’m waiting for an email with the proper spellings). The professor argues, along the lines of Samuel Huntington’s “too much democracy” argument, that the problem with Afghanistan is too many political parties. We have a pleasant chat over lunch, but I leave unconvinced of the logic of his argument that implementing authoritarian measures will strengthen democracy in Afghanistan, or that the American two-party system is superior to any other means of democratic governance and should be applied here to wipe out dissenting perspectives.
My next meeting with Aziz Rafiee the Executive Director of the Afghan Civil Society Forum Organization (ACSFO) is of greater interest. Aziz expresses his pessimism for any good to come out of the international military intervention. He is particularly concerned with the rapidly increasing potential for rapacious development of Afghanistan’s resources.
Only months ago, the New York Times reported that American geologists had suddenly discovered as much as a trillion dollars worth of mineral, gem, and hydrocarbon wealth buried in Afghanistan. However, Afghanistan’s abundance of natural resources was well known for millennia. Artisanal miners exploited Afghan resources throughout history and exported these resources as far and abroad as China, Athens, Rome, and Egypt during the ancient eras. British prospectors commissioned by the East India Company began surveying in the 18th century, but the first industrial scale project was not begun until the American Inland Oil Company began development in the 1930s. However, this first experiment by the Afghan government with “voluntary” exploitation of Afghan resources by foreigners ended in disaster as the American company pulled out of the project due to stagnant oil prices during the depression.
After WWII, American and Soviet prospectors competed for favour with the Afghan government. By the time the Soviets began Afghanistan’s next industrial scale mining project at the massive Aynak copper deposit, in the 1970s, much of Afghanistan had been surveyed using modern technology. Resources of significant economic interest where found in abundance. Many of these resources, which are necessary for military products, electronics, and nuclear power and weapons are also of important strategic value. However, the Islamic Rebellion of March 1979, American covert military support for the Islamic rebels that began in July 1979, and then the Soviet invasion on Christmas Day 1979, doomed further large scale resource extraction. Ironically, the Soviet built Aynak complex was used by the Taliban as a headquarters and training camp and was a site of intense battle after the battle for Kabul.
Aziz points out that another resource in abundance in Afghanistan is drinking water. Considering most Afghans have no access to safe drinking water and most agriculture is practised in arid conditions, it is easy to miss the fact Afghanistan’s snow-capped mountains are the source of potentially billions of dollars worth of bottled drinking water. Aziz reminds us that a litre of drinking water can be sold for more than twice the price of a litre of gasoline; yet, the cost of producing petroleum products is far higher than the cost of bottling water. There are no regulations to limit exploitation of water in Afghanistan. Aziz is fearful that unregulated exploitation of water could have even more devastating environmental consequences than unregulated mining and hydrocarbon production in the very near future.
Aziz is pessimistic about the future of resource exploitation. The question remains whether the Afghan military and police forces that the Western powers are now training will serve the interests of all Afghans, or will serve only the interests of foreign companies and states and a few elite Afghans. Will these forces be used against the many Afghans who will inevitably act to ensure their own fair share of resource wealth as well as ensure the protection of the health of the environment and protect their own health, homes, and livelihoods?
If you think Canadian mining companies are above such imperialistic practices as rapacious resource exploitation and using the forces of host states to protect Canadian interests I urge you to watch two recent television documentaries: CTV’s W5 “Paradise Lost” regarding the devastating effects of Canadian mining in Guatemala; and CBC’s The Nature of Things “The Real Avatar” regarding similar problems in Peru. Based on the knowledge of past practices of states and corporations throughout history to the present day, well-informed Afghans like Aziz have good reason to fear the prospects of the large scale resource exploitation that has begun in Afghanistan.
My most inspiring meeting takes place in one of the many neighbourhoods high on the steep mountainsides surrounding Kabul. This neighbourhood reminds me of the barrios I have visited in Guatemala and Venezuela. The poor people of Kabul – a population that is swelling daily as people flee the horrors of the war – have no choice but to reside on the only available space either in abandoned buildings and wastelands in and about the city, or on the incredibly steep mountainsides. Life is obviously difficult up here with no water, sanitation or any other basic services. More of the hillside neighbourhoods do apparently have access to electricity. I can see more lights in the hills at night than during my last visit in 2007.
The climb up the hillside is difficult. I can barely maintain my footing in the ankle deep mud, sewage, and refuse that flows down the steep footpaths, which has been set loose by a mix of wet snow and rain. I cannot imagine having to regularly make this trek up the mountainside carrying, water, fuel, food and all the necessities of life.
I have come up here to meet three of the organizers of the upcoming 8 March International Women’s Day festivities to take place in Kabul. I receive a warm welcome from the three when I arrive. For their protection I will not use their names as they have very valid fears of being persecuted for honestly airing their thoughts. One is a middle aged woman, but to my surprise the others are a girl of thirteen and a young woman of nineteen. We have some difficulty with the translation of 'young woman,' because in this culture there is no such concept – a girl remains a girl until she is married. The two young comrades along with their senior comrade all prove to be incredibly articulate and passionate in describing the conditions for Afghan women.
I ask them whether the promises made by Western leaders to liberate Afghan women have materialized. Their answers are very clear; these promises are not being fulfilled. While there have been some token political appointments of women in political positions and the statistics for enrolment of girls in school have risen, in reality many things have gotten worse for girls and women.
In politics, women are pushed aside in all important decisions by the mujahedin warlord dominated government. The tokenism of having women in parliament who have no power or authority undermines any real progress forward for women as far as these three are concerned.
Regarding the statistics of more girls going to school, these female comrades confirm what I have read in reports from various analysts; there are grounds for considerable scepticism regarding whether government enrolment statistic accurately show how many students are actually attending school. Various local surveys suggest there are vast discrepancies between enrolment statistics and actual attendance. However, no national survey has been done and it may be impossible to conduct a national survey considering the deteriorating security in much of the country. It is, nonetheless, evident that far fewer students are attending school than the government claims, although no one has been able to collect accurate statistics.
My three friends point out that both boys and girls are often required to help support the family with paid or unpaid work. If there is a choice in a family as to who will work and who will attend school, boys will inevitably be chosen over girls to attend school, because many Afghans perceive boys will have a greater chance than girls of making a better income in the future. Few girls are proceeding beyond the elementary level. Although traditional attitudes can play a part in discriminating in favour of boys, my friends argue material economics are a significant factor preventing girls from attending school. They also question the value of education in schools that have poorly trained teachers, few books and teaching resources, inadequate facilities, and overcrowded classrooms. It is common for elementary classes to have sixty or more students.
These three women’s rights activists argue that overall conditions for women are deteriorating. While conditions for some urban elites are better, conditions based on numerous economic and social factors are deteriorating for most. Rising inflation is putting increasing pressure on all poor families. In the war zones, deaths and injuries of family members, destruction of homes, farms and businesses, the disruption and humiliation of night raids, arbitrary arrests and detentions, and the trauma of torture are all having deleterious impacts on social order that disproportionately affect women.
The migration of internally displaced people to urban centers is having a significant impact on women. The infrastructure of Kabul originally supported 500,000 people in the 1970s, but began to grow with refugees from fighting in rural areas during the 1980s. The Soviets did add to the infrastructure and housing stock in Kabul and other urban centres during their occupation, but not sufficiently. Much of the Kabuli civic infrastructure and housing was destroyed during the intense battles in Kabul during the civil war 1992-1996 and what remained has been decaying from lack of resources for maintenance since. An additional 2 million people have migrated to Kabul significantly stretching resources.
Tasks we don’t think about in the West, like water collection, which for us means turning on a tap, is for an Afghan woman an energy and time consuming task of transporting water over long distances. The lack of safe drinking water or proper sanitation also increases the healthcare burdens of women. Children are getting sick and dying of easily preventable and treatable diseases. The rate of child mortality before the age of five has remained at 20 per cent throughout the occupation despite promises of better healthcare.
In the oversaturated labour market of the overcrowded cities there are few options for many poorly educated women other than begging or the sex trade.
The increasing criminality within Afghanistan related to drugs and weapons trading has also led to an increase in human trafficking. These activists tell me Afghanistan has become a hub for the global transportation of sex trade workers, because foreign government, military, military contractors, and corporate personnel can easily bypass immigration controls at the airports and borders. Moreover, the huge influx of soldiers, military contractors, and international workers has also made Afghanistan itself a destination for sex trade workers.
Finally, my three friends argue that social disintegration as a result of the war has led to further entrenchment of oppressive attitudes toward women. The rates of sexual and physical abuse of women and girls, these activists claim, are rising. They also claim that forced marriages and using girls as currency to pay for the settlement of civil disputes are increasing. Consequently, the suicide rate of women trying to escape abusive marriages is also rising. Horrifically, self-immolation is a common means used by women performing suicide. Afghan women and foreign activists have built some women’s shelters in the country, but the Afghan National Police and the Karzai government have, on many occasions, forced shelter operators to return women to their abusive husbands or fathers.
When I ask these women’s rights activists whether they are at least better off under the current government than if the Taliban regained power, they observe that the Taliban and other insurgents are already the de facto authorities in much of the country. They argue Afghans are responsible for their own sovereign affairs and it is up to Afghan women to fight for their rights against either the oppressive regimes of the Karzai government or the Taliban. While they acknowledge Afghan women can benefit greatly from the solidarity of women and their male allies from other countries, they see no reason why Afghan women and girls should suffer another moment of the horrible effects of what these activists perceive is an imperialistic war.
After several hours of talk over many cups of green tea and sweet treats we bid farewell hoping to meet again. I negotiate my way down the slippery winding footpath on the steep footpath, now in the dark. I’m grateful I had prepared for the inevitable muck of a Kabul winter with a good pair of boots, but I see many poor Kabulis negotiating their way through this mess of slushy snow and feces and garbage filled mud in cheap shoes worn full of holes and some even wear sandals.
I arrive at my host’s home to learn the major traffic jams I had encountered during the day were the result of a large protest against the military occupation of Afghanistan. Protests against the foreign occupation occur regularly in Kabul and across the country, but are rarely reported in Western media. My Afghan host, already knowing the answer, asks me rhetorically why protests against authoritarian regimes in Egypt, Yemen, and Libya make daily headlines in Western media with editorials written in favour of the protestors, but protests in Afghanistan are ignored. I answer that it is the same reason why police in Toronto in 2010 arbitrarily arrested more than one thousand people without charges during the G20 protests in Toronto, as well as fired rubber bullets into crowds of people, beat and molested non-violent protestors, and barricaded large sections of the city. Both are symptoms of an imperialist system of inherently unequal capitalist social relations that in the interest of working for the benefit of a few must oppress many. These contradictions demonstrate the hypocrisy of governments that proclaim they are defending the rule of law, human rights and liberty, while they are systematically violating these principles whenever it suits the pursuit of their interests.
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